


Epoch

by ofshadowsandstars



Series: Recumbentibus [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Blood, Emotional Baggage, Face Punching, Hurt No Comfort, Memory Alteration, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-11 00:42:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7017268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofshadowsandstars/pseuds/ofshadowsandstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Epoch (n.) a particular period of time in a history or a person's life.</p><p>There was something oddly satisfying about seeing Nick Fury with a bloody nose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Epoch

There was something oddly satisfying about seeing Nick Fury with a bloody nose. Perhaps it was the way that the man who was normally nothing but carefully calculated composure had yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards as he registered the pain and the blood. A part of Steve wanted to smile at the scene, but he was more concerned with Clint, who had done the punching. He’d been moody since the Raft, quick to anger and short on patience. Sam and Scott didn’t know what was going on, and Wanda had made some cryptic comment about letting him ride it out. 

T’Challa had been kind to them. He let them have their space, never made them do anything they didn’t want to, and somehow found the time to be Steve’s sparring partner around running a country. So when he had called them all into one place, there was something going on. And then Nick Fury had stepped out of the shadows, still in the same eyepatch and black ensemble as always. Wanda and Sam’s eyes had widened in surprise, Steve had stammered out a  _ how are you here? _ , and Scott - as usual - had no idea what was going on. And then Clint, standing at the back of the room, had calmly walked up to his former boss and proceeded to break his nose.

“I thought you might do that,” Nick said, pinching his nose. The man managed to sound dignified even when talking with a pinched nose. He couldn’t be entirely human. “Can’t say I don’t deserve it, but a ‘hello’ would’ve been nice as a starter.”

Clint spat a string of words in Russian that even Scott knew didn’t mean anything near a greeting.

Fury looked to Steve, an eyebrow raised questioningly. “He been using that language a lot lately?” Steve nodded. “Figures.” He looked back to Clint. “Look, Barton, I wouldn’t’ve done it if there had been another option. That was the safest way.”

Barton scoffed. “Oh, of course. The  _ experimental procedure _ was your best bet. Gee, that sure sounds believable.”

“We couldn’t let you keep going as you were. I dug deep and I reached far trying to find another solution. Nobody wanted to do it.”

A silence fell over the room as Clint continued to glare at Fury, breathing heavily, trying to get a grip on his anger. After several tense moments, Scott broke the quiet by saying, “Okay, who the hell is this guy and what the  _ fuck _ is going on?”

Steve opened his mouth to explain, but Sam beat him to it. “This is Nick Fury, former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He’s supposed to be dead, but he’s a tough son of a bitch like that. Gave us a hand in Sokovia last year, and then went off the grid again. I don’t know why Barton just have him a nose job, though.”

“Because he’s a shitty person,” Clint growled.

Nick, now holding a handkerchief under his nose, rolled his eye. “Like you’re the epitome of purity yourself, Barton. But I did do a shitty thing; I’ll give you that.”

“We still don’t know what that is,” Steve pointed out.

“It has something to do with the brainwashing, right?” Wanda asked. “From Loki’s staff. The gem.”

Nick nodded slowly, wiping away at the blood staining his upper lip and chin. Clint clenched his jaw and started pacing furiously, refusing to look anyone in the eye. “Being under the bastard’s control for as long as he was has...side effects,” Fury started, sitting down in a chair T’Challa had pulled up for him. “Selvig went kooky, but that was age as well. Barton was alright at first, ‘cept for some insomnia and bad dreams. And then he started sleepwalking, which was followed by losing time, hallucinations, flashbacks in the middle of the most goddamn mundane things. We thought it’d go away with time, with more traditional treatment.” Nick paused, shooting a glance at the archer. He was breathing heavily, still pacing. His fists were clenching and unclenching, clearly looking for something to hit. “And then he stopped recognizing people. He’d be in the middle of conversation and then you’d be a stranger.”

“And then one day I didn’t recognize Tasha,” Clint continued. “I didn’t recognize her, I attacked her, and she might’ve died if someone hadn’t intervened.” There was a mix of venom and heartbreak in his voice. “I nearly murdered my best friend because of Loki.  _ Again _ .” Clint met Steve’s eyes evenly, his pale eyes full of anger. “So Nick,” he spat out the name like a foul taste, “had my brain poked around in. My memories torn away and replaced with-with,” he faltered, rage slipping out of his voice.

“With Laura and the kids,” Nick finished, as dignified as ever. Steve and Sam both tensed in anger. Wanda gasped. Scott and T’Challa shared a look, not entirely understanding what was going on.

“With Laura and the kids,” Clint echoed, laughing bitterly. “Turns out Stark was right. She  _ is _ an agent. The kids _are_ smaller agents.”

“They’re not agents. They were just paid for with S.H.I.E.L.D. funds, that’s all.” Steve had nearly forgotten how infuriating Nick’s apathy was.

“Let me get this straight,” Sam said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Chicken-eye over here was having PTSD to the extreme, so you gave him a new history - that included a secret family - to help deal with it?”

“That’s the short of it, yeah.”

Steve turned to look at Clint. He was leaning against a wall, visibly defeated. “And now you remember what happened?”

Clint nodded. “I started remembering back in winter. Just bits and pieces. I’d have weirdly vivid dreams of past missions, only they played out differently than I remembered. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and something would just feel  _ wrong _ . And then, about a week before the whole Lagos thing, I was having lunch with Lila, listening to her chatter away, and then it hit me like a goddamn freight train. Everything snapped into place. I remembered what happened after New York - what  _ really  _ happened. So I made up some bullshit about a headache, went upstairs, threw some stuff together, and snuck out the window. I was staying in a motel in Maine when I got Cap’s call.” He smiled wryly at Wanda. “We really were supposed to go water skiing. I wasn’t lying about that.”

“Laura called me as soon as she realized he was missing,” Fury added. “I told her to keep calm and not tell Romanoff.”

Steve raised an eyebrow at that. “You seriously asked someone to keep secrets from  _ Natasha _ ?”

Sam chuckled. “Man, that’s a rookie mistake if I’ve ever heard one.”

Nick shrugged. “She went to the farm after y’all got thrown in the slammer. Wanted to say she was sorry and whatnot. One of the kids lets it slip that their pretend daddy’s been missing for a while, and then she’s ringing me like there’s no tomorrow, demanding why I didn’t say there was something up.” Nick sighed and slouched slightly, suddenly looking much older. “I met T’Chaka years ago on business. Liked the guy; I was sorry to see him go. Point is, he promised I could come visit the great nation any time I wanted. Many years and a very angry woman later, I’m finally taking up his offer.”

Sam smirked. “So you’re here to hide from Natasha is what you’re saying.”

“Among other things, yes.”

The conversation ended shortly after, Clint too worked up to keep going. Sam followed him, seeing an opportunity to put his therapy know-how to use. He was reeling from the events of Lagos and Germany as much as anyone, but he was dealing with it by trying to help his teammates. Scott excused himself shortly after, and Wanda followed his lead. It was just Steve, T’Challa, and Nick Fury.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Nick asked, breaking the silence.

Steve’s jaw clenched and his hands curled into fists. The man in front of him fell away, replaced by a sleeping figure in a glass tube. His face was peaceful, but the hard lines of his face said otherwise. The black patch where his arm should be spoke of further horrors. He wasn’t sleeping, he was hiding. Hiding from things forced upon him, from things he could not control, from people who would pin the blame on him regardless because there was no one else alive that they could.”

“I’ll show you,” Steve managed, barely keeping a snarl out of his voice. He turned on his heel and stalked towards the elevator, not bothering to check if Nick was following. He was, of course, but he had the decency to not ask questions. Not yet, anyway. T’Challa pressed the button.

Going down the few floors to the lab, Steve was reminded of the last time he’d ridden an elevator with Nick Fury.  _ They’re a bit bigger than a .22 _ , Fury had joked. It had been a clever, well-timed story, and he’d gotten his meaning across well. Still, looking back, Steve doubted the story was even true.

The walk from the elevator to Bucky’s cryo tube was so familiar by now that it almost felt like he lost time between point A and point B. One second the elevator doors were opening, and the next he was standing in front of the tube, trying to resist touching the glass.

“You were never properly introduced. I’m sorry to say you’ll have to wait a bit longer.” It was meant as a joke. There was even a joking tone in Steve’s voice, but his heart clearly wasn’t in it.

“Those bulletholes I got seem like papercuts in comparison to the number those bastards did on him,” Nick decided, studying the sleeping form of the Winter Soldier. “I know some people that might be able to help him. Brainwashing is tricky, though, especially if it’s as deep-seated as his is. It can be done, though. Hell, I’ve seen it be done.”

“At least he chose it this time,” Steve croaked. “He didn’t want to risk hurting anybody else, so he asked to be put to sleep.”

“You’re not huge on the idea, I see.”

“Would you be?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Nick shrug. “You know me; I do what has to be done, but I’m not afraid to do what should be done, either. This,” he gestured to the cryo tube, “isn’t necessary, but Barnes saw it as the right thing. The safest. I guess when you’ve spent as much time as he did doing the bad guys’ dirty work, doing the right thing seems pretty good.”

Steve barely registered the words, staring straight ahead at eyelids softly shut. “He didn’t listen to me.”

Fury sighed. “I hate to break it to you, but you don’t much listen to people, either.”

Steve scoffed, finally tearing his eyes away. “You think I don’t know that? It’s what got us here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated. Tell me what you think!


End file.
